Throughout this application various publications are referred to in superscripts. Full citations for these references may be found at the end of the specification. The disclosures of these publications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety into the subject application to more fully describe the art to which the subject invention pertains.
Infections by the Ebola (EboV) and Marburg (MarV) filoviruses cause a rapidly fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans for which no approved vaccines or antivirals are available1. Filovirus entry into cells is mediated by the viral spike glycoprotein (GP), which attaches viral particles to the cell surface, delivers them to endosomes, and catalyzes fusion between viral and endosomal membranes2. Additional host factors in the endosomal compartment, including a putative entry receptor, are likely required for viral membrane fusion. However, despite considerable efforts, these critical host factors have defied molecular identification3-5.
The present invention addresses the need for methods and assays for treating subjects infected with filoviruses or who are at risk for infection with filoviruses.